A recently concluded 42-month EU project, ELENA, has developed lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) substrates for photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The development establishes a fully European supply chain for thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) technology. The €5 million ($5.7M) initiative brought together 10 partners across the PIC value chain from substrate innovation and photonic design to manufacturing, testing, and packaging. TFLN is a material platform that enables high-performance PICs offering electro-optic, nonlinear optical, and acousto-optic properties. The advent of LNOI wafers allows micromachining of LN with high precision, integrating multiple optical functions within a footprint smaller than a fingertip. The ELENA project has established a European supply chain for the development of lithium niobate-on-insulator technology. Courtesy of ELENA. The ecosystem for LNOI, however, has been constrained by a limited supply chain reliant on a single commercial supplier outside the EU, and the absence of a commercial foundry capable of producing TFLN photonic chips at scale. The ELENA project was established to address these gaps by establishing Europe’s first commercial LNOI wafer supply and laying the groundwork for a TFLN photonic chip foundry. A cornerstone of the project is the creation of Europe's first open-acces LNOI photonic chip foundry at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology's (CSEM) certified cleanroom facility. There, TFLN chips will be produced on 150-mm optical grade LNOI wafers at industrial scale. As a result, CSEM, which coordinated the project, launched CCRAFT, a dedicated spinout to scale up production. The availability of a production-grade photonic chip foundry, coupled with project members CEA-Leti and SOITEC's plans to commercialize LNOI wafers, also supports Europe's ability to manufacture the next generation of photonic chips across a broad range of markets and industries. To validate the platform, ELENA produced four demonstrator chips targeting high-impact sectors, including quantum, telecom, space, and lidar/sensing.